11

For meetings, I need to change the background to a particular image. I could not see the "Show background effects" feature in my ubuntu 18.04. How can we add a virtual background?

Sivaram Rasathurai
  • 209
  • 1
  • 3
  • 16
  • https://askubuntu.com/q/1228501/367990 includes suggestions how you can use a third party software to emulate a virtual webcam and do the body detection and background merging on the fly. This would work for Teams too. – Byte Commander Aug 20 '21 at 07:21
  • Browse teams.com to and then you can use virtual background option. – Musaddiq Khan Mar 13 '23 at 09:45

2 Answers2

7

As of January 2022, the Teams Background Effects (change/blur) works in Microsoft Edge for Linux. I have it running on Ubuntu 20.04.

Here's what it looks like (option highlighted in red): enter image description here

Create Teams on Edge desktop file

You can also create .desktop file to open MS Edge with Teams. You can do this by:

  1. Copy and rename existing Edge .desktop file from terminial: cp /usr/share/applications/microsoft-edge.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/microsoft-teams-edge.desktop
  2. Edit the file: gedit ~/.local/share/applications/microsoft-teams-edge.desktop
  3. Change Name entry at the top of the file and replace it with something like Name=Teams on Edge Microsoft
  4. Find the Exec entry in the file and replace it with Exec=/usr/bin/microsoft-edge-stable --profile-directory="Default" https://teams.live.com/. If you use multiple MS Edge profiles, change "Default" in the above command to the profile you use for Teams (eg --profile-directory="Profile 1").
  5. Optional: You can also set a unique icon so that Teams on Edge looks different to the default Edge icon. Here is the icon I created for this purpose.

Background

This functionality update is related to Microsoft Feature ID: 85738. It may also work in Chromium-based browsers like Chrome or Brave. Also see here for more info.

Jaydin
  • 1,278
  • 19
  • 41
  • I tried running Teams on MS Edge and Google Chrome on my Ubuntu 20.04 machine. As far as I can tell, Teams in browsers provides even less functionalities that the Teams app for Linux. The devices tab in settings is missing and `/testcall` is not enabled. @JayDin I am guessing that you took the screenshot while receiving a call. If not, please clarify how to access the background settings. Thank you – IvanP May 03 '22 at 08:35
  • UPDATE: the blur background functionality is enabled both on MS Edge and on Google Chrome. Since devices cannot be configured before the beginning of a call and test calls are not enabled in Teams web app, the blurred background can only be enabled when an invite link is opened in browser, or when a call is accepted. Besides the background functionality, I've noticed that screen-sharing is slightly improved in the web app compared to Teams desktop app for Linux – IvanP May 03 '22 at 09:09
  • @IvanP I can do a test call just by using the Meet Now button, so I didn't need an invite link to access the settings. – Jaydin May 03 '22 at 09:12
  • Thank you for your comment. Yes, I did the same. The point is that using Meet Now allows to test the background functionality, but not to test microphone and speakers...which is my main reason for making a test call in view of a meeting. – IvanP May 03 '22 at 09:21
  • If you are still looking for a solution to blur or add background on teams linux native app, I have created a workaround solution to do so. https://github.com/prabhakar-sivanesan/MS-Teams-background-changer You can check this github repository and follow the instructions there. – prabhakar-sivanesan Jul 24 '22 at 21:02
6

The feature is currently absent for Linux systems. According to Change your background for a Teams meeting - Office Support:

  • For now, Linux users aren't able to use this feature.
Kulfy
  • 17,416
  • 26
  • 64
  • 103